This invention relates generally to the cooking of bacon and, more particularly, to the cooking of bacon using a hybrid cooking system, which includes preheating the bacon using a first system and then followed by using a second system to fully cook the bacon.
There are several ways of preparing bacon wherein the producer cooks the bacon prior to sale to the customer or consumer. This is referred to as precooked bacon. One typical way of making precooked bacon is to use microwave heating. Typically, multiple microwave ovens are arranged in series with a conveyor running through them to form a continuous cooking system. This provides for a fast cooking process and provides an economical way of producing precooked bacon. However, there have been instances where the appearance and the texture of the precooked bacon, cooked by microwave, could be improved. For example, the finished product tends to be tough in texture and has char marks on the slices proximate the locations of the cure solution injection sites. Another way of making precooked bacon is to use continuous spiral ovens with a heated gas such as hot air or steam which is circulated in the oven to heat and cook the bacon slices. Such ovens commonly use electrical heating elements or thermal oil heat exchangers to heat the circulating gas. These heating surfaces are typically much hotter than the target temperature for the circulating gas to increase the efficiency of heat transfer. For example, an oven with an air temperature setting of 350° F. would have the heating surface temperature of at least 450° F. However, such systems also may have issues with texture and retention of flavor. Although the texture is somewhat improved and char marks are eliminated by using electrically or thermal oil heated spiral ovens with steam, it has been noted, for example, that the flavor changed in a negative way by having an off flavor and the flavor intensity of the cure solution was noticeably reduced.
Further, smoke is typically applied to bacon bellies before slicing and cooking in microwave ovens. These ovens typically have conveyor belts on top of the bacon to hold the bacon in place on the lower transport conveyor belt. Therefore, it is not possible to add smoke in the microwave oven since the top and bottom belts prevent the smoke from reaching the bacon slices. Smoke can be applied to the bacon belly or to the slices in a heated spiral oven during cooking. When smoke is applied before slicing and cooking only the edges of the sliced bacon have significant smoke flavor. Whether applied before cooking or during the cooking of the slices, the smoke can darken the meat and/or develop a bitter flavor because of reactions that occur at the high temperatures of bacon cooking. Smoke applied to sliced bacon in a continuous oven also loses a significant amount of flavor and aroma with the heat and high air flow in the continuous oven. In addition, there are problems with smoke coating the inside of the oven.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an improved bacon cooking system.